Another addition to our summer portfolio is Château Pech Latt, a beautiful estate located near Lagrasse, in the heart of the Corbières appellation, in Languedoc Roussillon, South of France. The vineyard has been cultivated in organic farming since 1991. The estate spreads over 340 hectares, encircled by hills at the foot of the Alaric mountains. These calcareous and red marl hills create a natural shelter offering protection from weather changes. Incidentally, the name Pech Latt comes from this particular environment: Pech means "top of a hill” and Latt, from the Latin Latum, which means "large”. The first vines, planted by the monks from the Lagrasse Abbey that was founded by Charlemagne, can be traced back to 784. We've chosen their AOC Corbières blanc (a delightful marsanne) and rouge (a blend of Grenache, Carignan, Syrah and Mouvedre) to complement our list. Ask one of our consultants if you'd like to have a look.

In our attempts to expand our French offering, we have managed to tie down an agreement with an exceptional producer of organic wines from the Côtes du Rhone. The Domaine la Lyre is a beautiful Domaine of 45 hectares located in Pouzilhac, a charming village near Uzès and the Pont du Gard in the South of France. The entire Domaine is cultivated in organic farming and produces natural Côtes du Rhône wines, with the utmost respect for traditions and authenticity. The Domaine is bathed by sunlight all year long thanks to the Mediterranean climate of the region and also benefits from a nice freshness brought by the nearby Massif Central Mountains. The vineyard is located on hillsides at an ideal altitude of around 250 meters. The terroir of the Domaine is mainly limestone clay, the soils also contains many stones. This is a typical Côtes du Rhône terroir and produces a blanc and a rouge which we now include in our updated portfolio. Ask one of our consultants, or contact us for more information.

After a short break withour any Whispering Angel on hand, the new, 2013 vintage has finally landed and will start shipping to our customers this week. As usual, winemaker Patrick Léon and owner Sacha Lichine have done an extraordinary job to produce another beautifully crafted rosé which has already started gaining accolades in Europe, where it was released to the arrival of their Spring. We've updated our website with the new vintage, so if you're after a tasting note and some comments by the European press, click on the tasting note link on the Chateau D'Esclans page, or right here!

The first couple of months with Louis Max have been fantastic. Incredibly, we must announce that we have sold out of several wines already! The Mâcon Villages, Mercurey les Rochelles and Chablis Saint Jean are still in stock, but we have no more of the Fleurie Beaujolais, the Viré Clessé or Pouilly Fuisse. Of course we have more on the way, plus new vintages

We haven't been idle since adding the Bourgogne Chardonnays and Pinots of Marie André and Château de Savigny to our portfolio. While we are currently looking at adding more of their superb wines, we have managed to put together a very exciting deal indeed! After meeting with the owners, a thorough tour of their vineyards and a comprehensive tasting at their Maison, we have secured a deal to import the exciting wines of Louis Max to Australia for the first time. This is a truly unique house in Bourgogne, with exquisite parcels of land that produce the most extraordinary organic wines. But just as famously, they display an artistic individuality and quirkiness that will really make a mark here. All labels of the Nuits-Saint-Georges winemaker are hand drawn and hand written, using the art of renowned French illustrator Pierre Le Tan, who has done work for Hermes, Coach and even New Yorker magazine.

We can't wait to get Louis Max here, and will bring more news to this page as we get closer to the Australian release. But if you love Chardonnay and Pinot from the region that does them best, keep an eye out - or better yet, run Louis Max through your search engine!

Our big news this month is the arrival of stock from our agreement to import and distribute several of Corton André's great Burgundies! As lovers of world class Chardonnays, we have a particular interest in Bourgogne blancs, and particularly Chablis, so we are quite excited to have products from two of Corton André's houses: Marie André, and Chateau de Savigny.

From Marie André, we have secured 2011 Bourgogne Blanc, as well as their Grand Vin 2011 Chablis. Both are exquisite wines, drinking perfectly already and despite recent currency moves (in the wrong direction!), represent extraordinary value.

But Burgundy is not known solely for its whites, and from Chateau de Savigny we have arranged a supply of of a very special Bourgogne Rouge, the 2011 Clos du Chateau. All these wines are now in our warehouses and will be available through our sales staff immediately. And the good news doesn't end there. We are still in negotiation with a couple of other Burgundy chateaux, so wath this space!

Over the next month or so we hope to receive our first shipment of wines from Burgundy. Can't say too much just yet, but Woods Wines has been appointed to represent a very prestigious house, with our opening salvo to include (obviously) a Bourgogne rouge, a Bourgogne blanc and a Chablis. With quite a range of whites and reds from the region, we hope to add more wines in the future to flesh out the regional portfolio even more. Stay tuned for news!

Bob the writer

When he's not writing our news, Bob works behind the scenes as the wearer of many hats. He's the marketing guy, the IT guy, one of our delivery drivers, a self-nominated taster and our best chef! Well, that's what he says anyway. . . .